Patrick Mayrhofer (born 15 September 1987) is Austria's most successful Paralympic Snowboarder. He won Silver in the

Banked Slalom Snowboard racing is a form of snowboarding where competitors attempt to obtain the fastest time down a course. Snowboard racing can be done against the clock, or by two or more competitors racing in a head-to-head format. The current Olympic sno ...

at the

2018 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 49 , athletes = 569 , events = 80 in 6 sports , opening = 9 March , closing = 18 March , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...

in PyeongChang, South Korea, Gold in the

at the 2015 World Para Snowboard World Championships in La Molina,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and Silver in the

at the 2019 World Para Snowboard World Championships in Pyhä,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 2015 he was honored as the Paralympic

Austrian Sports Personality of the Year The Austrian Sports Personality of the Year is chosen annually since 1949. Recordholders are Annemarie Moser-Pröll (seven awards) and Marcel Hirscher (six awards). In 1978 and 1979 the Austria national football team was named Austrian Sports Team ...

(german: Behindertensportler des Jahres).

Biography

Born in Helfenberg,

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

in 1987, Mayrhofer had been snowboarding since childhood. He worked as an electrician until an accident in February 2008, when he guiltless touched a 6000-volt power line, causing serious injury on his right upper leg, left forearm and right hand. On his right hand the thumb and parts of the middle finger needs to be amputated. After several unsuccessful attempts to reconstruct the function of his left hand Mayrhofer decides to amputate his left hand. His surgeon Dr. Oskar Aszmann from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

worked close together with the prosthesis technology company Ottobock. So Mayrhofer became the first patient in the world to undergo elective amputation. His left hand was amputated around below the elbow in July 2010. After this, he was fitted with a groundbreaking

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

, known as a " Michelangelo Hand", The elective amputation allows Mayrhofer to control the prosthesis in the same way as non-amputees do: EMG electrodes in the prosthesis detect muscle signals within the lower arm which can be used for prosthesis control. He can open bottles, tie shoelaces and brush his teeth within a short period of time. After the amputation, he worked closely with Ottobock's R&D department giving feedback to the engineers; in 2013 he joined the company as a product specialist in upper limb prosthesis.

Paralympic sport

Visiting a prosthetics trade show in 2012, Mayrhofer saw a stall run by the Austrian Paralympic Committee, which led to him deciding to pursue para-snowboarding. At the 2015 World Para Snowboard World Championships at La Molina, Spain, Mayrhofer won the gold medal in the

and came fifth in

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

. In the

, he competed in both snowboarding events, coming fifth in

on 12 March but then winning the silver medal in

four days later. At the 2019 World Para Snowboard World Championships at Pyhä, Finland, Mayrhofer won the silver medal in the

Competition history

Personal life

Mayrhofer is married.

References

External links

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Patrick Mayrhofer
at

World Para Snowboard The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

*
Profile
on Ottobock website
Athlete profile
for the

"My Incredible Story – Patrick Mayrhofer"
a video interview on the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayrhofer, Patrick 1987 births Living people Austrian male snowboarders Paralympic snowboarders for Austria Paralympic medalists in snowboarding Paralympic silver medalists for Austria Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Olympic snowboarders for Austria People from Rohrbach District Sportspeople from Upper Austria Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Paralympics